A couple of years ago, I was considering a new card and kept hearing my TPG colleagues talk about The Platinum Card® from American Express.
Sure, the Centurion Lounge access it came with sounded great. So did the automatic Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors Gold elite status (enrollment required) — especially to someone who (at that time) had no hotel elite status to their name.
No. 2: The lack of bonus spending categories: Cardmembers get 5 points per dollar spent on airfare booked directly with their airline or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 spent per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar) and on prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel. All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Then I received a personalized welcome offer that tipped the scales. Using TPG’s CardMatch tool, I was able to secure a welcome bonus of 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards points* — well above the publicly available offer.
That haul of points helped me and my wife book flights to Europe and a wonderful three-night stay at a Marriott Bonvoy resort in southern Spain — with points to spare — and the card has earned a place in my wallet for specific travel benefits.
You might be able to secure your own elevated welcome offer using our CardMatch tool, which runs soft credit checks (so there’s no impact on your credit score!) to match you with the best card and highest possible offer.
Recently, we’ve seen elevated offers on the Amex Platinum ranging from 125,000 or 150,000 bonus points up to 175,000 bonus points*, and offers on the American Express® Gold Card for 75,000, 90,000 or even 100,000 bonus points*.
Here’s what to know about using the CardMatch tool, and about the Amex Platinum and Gold cards:
The public offer for the Amex Platinum is 80,000 bonus points after meeting the spending requirement of $8,000 in the first six months of card membership*, so any of those elevated offers ranging from 125,000 to 175,000 bonus points would easily get me to apply and not look back.
*Spending requirements are the same as the public offer. Amex Gold public offer currently lets you earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of cardmembership.
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